Health Care Delivery Models and Nursing Practice
The health sector of the United States of America has faced various challenges, just like other nations worldwide. However, the federal government has instituted certain efforts to ensure its citizen receive quality, effective, patient-centered, and efficient care that improve patient outcomes and increases life expectancy. Nonetheless, there is an increasing incidence of chronic conditions among poor elderly populations. This is primarily attributed to poor nutrition, unsafe environment, and inhibitors to access quality and timely care. As a result, the demand for improved healthcare quality has increased.
Emerging Healthcare Law Introduced to Reform Healthcare Delivery System.
The US federal government is obligated to ensure the safety of citizens through working with the healthcare sector to offer quality care. However, achieving this objective has been challenging due to healthcare accessibility, affordability, and acceptability challenges. The federal government passed the Affordability Care Act (ACA) as a healthcare legislative law to overcome the previous barriers to access to care. The ACA has three major goals for reforming healthcare: increasing affordable health insurance coverage, expanding the Medicaid program, and encouraging innovative medical care delivery to reduce the cost of care (Kominski et al., 2017). These changes increased to improve the quality of care, affordability, and accessibility of care.
Consequently, the healthcare sector faced a challenge of nursing shortage, resulting in an increased nurse-patient ratio. As a result, nurses are overwhelmed and advance their role to that of a physician to meet patient demands. Furthermore, nurses are compelled to practice transformational leadership, improve innovation, and practice coordinated care (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). Due to these changes and advances in nursing roles, there is a need to upgrade the nursing curriculum to cover all aspects of care to improve quality and patient outcomes.
Nursing shortage can negatively affect patient care due to increased work demand, burn-out, dissatisfaction, and increased mortality. This reality requires nurses to be at the forefront of the legislative process to ensure the enactment of laws that solve the nursing shortage. As Salmond and Echevarria (2017) note, addressing nurse shortages requires strengthening the nursing curriculum system to attract more people to gain professional nursing training to improve patient outcomes. Nurses assume the responsibility of advocacy in such circumstances. With the reduction in the nurse-patient ratio, there is a promotion of nurse welfare and improved quality of care that improve outcomes.
Effect of Quality Measures and Pay for Performance on Patient Outcomes.
The fee charged for services in the United States depends on the service quality. The quality of health is relevant for the country’s economic growth and improved welfare. The government has implemented strategies that encourage good service delivery to ensure safety, efficiency, effectiveness, timely care, and patient-centered care to ensure quality services. Quality measures are incentives that quantify the healthcare process, patient perception, and outcome based on the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP). Process strategies include safe medication prescription and patient education. EBP improves the quality of care, thus improving patient outcomes.
On the other hand, pay for performance has a mixed effect on patient outcomes (Kyeremanteng et al., 2019). The financial rewards encourage adherence to best practice that improves care quality. Best practice performance is rewarded, while poor-performing practitioners are punished. In addition, it motivates nurses and physicians to provide care with integrity. The outcome is improved patient outcome. However, some aspects of pay for performance may negatively impact patient outcomes. For instance, physicians may avoid providing care to patients with complicated chronic conditions due to the risks of losing incentives. As a result, such patients are left to the periphery with poor care and adverse health outcomes.
Professional Nursing Leadership and Management Roles.
Nursing leadership and management is a model that requires high expertise and knowledge. The quality of care an organization offers depends on the leadership and management skills practiced. In centers with poor leadership, care delivery is also poor, which may negatively impact patient outcomes. On the other hand, good leadership improves services aided by the organization, collaboration, effective planning, and appropriate dissemination of health improving strategies (Sfantou et al., 2017).
The increasing healthcare demand and need for improvement to overcome health challenges require the incorporation of visionary leaders to improve the health system. Transformational leaders ensure the integration of views of every member in matters affecting the organization, thus helping in making decisions. Furthermore, short-term and long-lasting solutions are attained that influence patient care.
The increasing incorporation of technology and nursing informatics is a recently emerging issue that requires the attention and expertise of nursing leadership and knowledge. Nurses are required to have basic skills to operate various technologies. For example, the emergence of surgical robots requires nurses to be conversant with the operation of such machines to enhance patient outcomes.
Nurse leaders are, therefore, tasked with overseeing the implementation of various technologies while monitoring their effectiveness (Sfantou et al., 2017). Furthermore, nurses must ensure proper planning and enhance collaboration within nursing teams. Nurse managers and leaders provide training for healthcare providers on the operation of the devices. Through training and education, patient safety is promoted.
Emerging Trends and Transformation of the Nursing Practice and Nursing Roles.
The health sector strives to provide quality care. However, ever-increasing emerging trends pose a challenge to the health sector. Some of the emerging trends include nursing shortage and the rise of chronic health conditions among the elderly. Management of chronic conditions requires long-term follow-up and the use of resources, yet nursing shortages seem to hamper these goals (Vogenberg & Santilli, 2019).
Despite the existence of new laws that seek to address the issue of nurse shortage, a gap persists, leading to burnout and increased error incidences. Further, there is a likelihood of change in the nursing roles within five years upon implementation of bills that aim to reduce nursing shortages. Such transformations will address emerging trends and improve healthcare delivery. In addition, information technology will certainly help in the remote management of patients with chronic conditions by leveraging telehealth and telecommunication capabilities.
Conclusion
The US health sector continues to face challenges due to disparities in access to care and affordability. The new law aims at bridging the gap in accessibility and affordability of care through increasing insurance coverage. The increasing demand for healthcare requires the introduction of laws and guidelines aimed at addressing nursing shortages to ensure equitable provision of care and improved patient outcomes. Furthermore, strong and visionary leadership is critical to addressing nursing challenges and offers an opportunity to handle emerging trends.
References
- Kominski, G. F., Nonzee, N. J., & Sorensen, A. (2017). The Affordable Care Act’s impacts on access to insurance and health care for low-income populations. Annual Review of Public Health, 38, 489–505. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044555
- Kyeremanteng, K., Robidoux, R., D’Egidio, G., Fernando, S. M., & Neilipovitz, D. (2019). An analysis of pay-for-performance schemes and their potential impacts on health systems and outcomes for patients. Critical Care Research and Practice, 2019, 8943972. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8943972
- Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare transformation and changing roles for nursing. Orthopedic Nursing, 36(1), 12–25. https://doi.org/10.1097/nor.0000000000000308
- Sfantou, D. F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A. E., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., & Patelarou, E. (2017). Importance of leadership style towards the quality of care measures in healthcare settings: A systematic review. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 5(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare5040073
- Vogenberg, F. R., & Santilli, J. (2019). Key trends in healthcare for 2020 and beyond. American Health & Drug Benefits, 12(7), 348–350. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32055282
Health Care Delivery Models and Nursing Practice Instructions
Assessment Traits
Requires Lopeswrite
Assessment Description
Examine changes introduced to reform or restructure the U.S. health care delivery system. In a 1,000-1,250 word paper, discuss action taken for reform and restructuring and the role of the nurse within this changing environment.
Include the following:
- Outline a current or emerging health care law or federal regulation introduced within the last 5 years to reform or restructure some aspect of the health care delivery system. Describe the effect of this on nursing practice and the nurse’s role and responsibility.
- Discuss how quality measures and pay for performance affect patient outcomes. Explain how these affect nursing practice and describe the expectations and responsibilities of the nursing role in these situations.
- Discuss professional nursing leadership and management roles that have arisen and how they are important in responding to emerging trends and in the promotion of patient safety and quality care in diverse health care settings.
- Research emerging trends. Predict two ways in which the practice of nursing and nursing roles will grow or transform within the next five years in response to upcoming trends or predicted issues in health care.
You are required to cite a minimum of three sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
Rubric Criteria
Expand All Rubric CriteriaExpand All
Current or Emerging Health Care Law or Federal Regulation and Effect on Nursing Practice, Role and R
24.75 points
Quality Measures Pay for Performance, Patient Outcomes, and Effect on Nursing Practice
33 points
Professional Nursing Leadership and Management Roles
33 points
Predict Change in Nursing Roles and Nursing Practice
24.75 points
Thesis, Position, or Purpose
11.55 points
Development, Structure, and Conclusion
11.55 points
Evidence
9.9 points
Mechanics of Writing
9.9 points
Format/Documentation
6.6 points
Total165 points